World Bum

I am not even in the closet about Lady Gaga. I am officially ready to get on my rooftop and scream my head out to let the humankind know of how I worship her. I know exactly why.

Start with her name. She created herself around the name of a song by Queen — the band that helped shape not just my understanding and commitment to music, but influenced me greatly as a person. I remember being 8 years old and blasting out Freddie’s theatrical rock soprano, and feeling really right about it. Well, I wasn’t like most children… my favorite album was “The Final Cut” by Pink Floyd during my 9th year. But no matter. It wasn’t until later that it occurred to me why Queen’s feel, channeled by Freddie, made so much sense at such early age. It allowed me to feel normal. The decadent shows, the over the top music, the obviously gay lead singer. It created a space for me that was comfortable.

Which brings me back to Lady Gaga. Not since Queen have I felt so connected to what a performer is about. I consume way more music than most people I know, but it’s very rare that I would be so taken and empowered not just by the music, but by the whole experience: the art, the philosophy, the story, the strategy, the music, the performance and the aura. Everything I sense from her comes from a genuine, vulnerable place, but a place that will give her enough fuel and authenticity to sustain a long career.

Like Queen, Lady Gaga allows me to feel normal — and “normal” really isn’t the word. She makes me feel OK about being not normal. I suspect that lots of kids feel the same way thanks to her. And it’s not like she’s the herder of the pubescent and the weird, and leading that parade by outdoing all of us. Oh no. She has a way of reaching into us, making us feel “normal”, opening our hearts, and encouraging us to operate from our own uniqueness — by expressing ourselves instead of trying to become drones; by loving instead of being afraid.

And then there is the artistic experience. I move to submit the above posted video clip into evidence. A 5-minute performance during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. No artist goes through this much preparation, this much trouble and this much detail for one quick gig. Most just show up, lip sing, make some moves and call it a success. But that is the difference — Lady Gaga writes great pop songs, has a grand artistic vision and presence, and she works harder than those other people. Much harder.  For her hit and run appearance on Oprah, she devastated a yellow cab with her shillelagh, for Pete’s sake! How much trouble was that to put together? But it made sense in her vision and she didn’t just decide that it’s too hard to pull together. She labored. It might be that Madonna, who I thought was the hardest working musician, is soon to be eclipsed.

I don’t think I will offer musical commentary on my blog often — although, it’s a great passion of mine. Lady Gaga made sense, however. I think that she will leave this world much better than she found it when she arrived. She will do this through the many young minds she will inspire, who will be driven by their own distinctiveness and who will focus on love. Not on fear as their parents. She will create the awareness for them to question what they are being programmed with and she will liberate them from the burden of having to fit in.

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